Support or Suffer
by Chloeva
Summary: Rubbish at summaries but a fic set c.series 8. About Nikki/Tom Rachel/Michael, Lorraine and other charcters. This fic is on the WR forums, and theres 43 parts on there. All gradually being added :)
1. Chapter 1

Nikki Boston was sitting in the PRU, stroking a small baby bump, no one knew of this pregnancy, not even the father. Nikki was scared to tell Tom Clarkson, fellow English teacher that their one night stand turned into more. Rhiannon and Jodi barged into the classroom; Nikki quickly pulled her jumper over her bump and listened to what they were rambling on about.

Tom didn't really remember much from that night, he was just in bed, no clothes on, no sign of that sweet young woman who he shared a passionate night with. Due to his poor luck with ladies in the past, they didn't really mention of the incident afterwards.

He was in the staffroom, sipping a strong coffee and staring at Grantly who was reading the racing post as per usual. As Nikki walked in, he got butterflies; he knew he was in love with her. Her figure, her eyes, her hair, everything about her was perfect, and these women came rarely, well, Lorna, Izzie, Davina and Rose were in that group but Nikki shone above them all.

Nikki sat down, placing a magazine on her stomach to hide any trace of the baby, she wanted to keep it, she really did, motherhood was something she didn't want to miss, she had been pregnant twice before but miscarried. The two things she feared was losing it and losing Tom, well their friendship anyway.

As the bell went for the end of lunch, Nikki left first and walked quickly to the PRU. To her amazement the kids were already waiting for her. "Okay, go in quietly"

Nikki went over to her desk and sat down, quickly scrolling through the documents to find her presentation.

"Okay we are going to talk about friendship, one of the most important things in everyone's lives. Friends are people you can trust, and can look after you in times of trouble. Now I want you to sit with someone you don't usually talk to and I want you to have a conversation with them, doesn't have to be long but I want you to give some basic information about yourself so you get to know each other a little more."

Jodi interrupted "Miss, I'm already friends with nearly everyone…"

Nikki raised an eyebrow at her "Nearly Jodi, not everyone is it? Why don't go you sit with Mr. Barry over there?"

"Not sitting near that psycho" Jodi retorted

"Me either miss, she's got too much mouth on her" Barry said with a smirk.

Nikki sighed "Right, least we know Jodi and Barry won't be playing Jack and Jill"

The lesson went quite slowly for Nikki, every minute someone complained about the other person, all she wanted was Tom to walk in and help her settle things down. But of course, he wasn't and she was stuck with all this noise and whining.

After the bell finally rang and the class left quicker than when they had a fire drill, Nikki rested her head on the desk. Her eyes focused on the blue pencil case sitting next to her arm, the glance was interrupted when Michael demanded her lesson plans for a review. As she got them she dropped them onto the floor, as she bent down, Michael noticed the bump. "You're pregnant Nikki?"

Nikki just looked up at him "Yes, I'm pregnant; I know I haven't told you yet but I was waiting a bit."

"Why wait to tell me?" he asked.

"Because I've been pregnant before and miscarried early, I just wanted to tell you when I was surer about not miscarrying it."

"So you know who the father is I'm presuming?"

She looked down "Yep"

"Anyone I know?"

It took a second for her to speak "Tom"

That's when Tom Clarkson walked into the classroom.

"Does he know?" Michael asked unaware of his presence.


	2. Chapter 2

Tom dropped the pile of coursework he was carrying to the floor; both Michael and Nikki looked at him. She moved a couple of steps closer to him "Tom?"

"Oh clumsy me, who knows what?" he asked curious for some staffroom gossip.

"Tom…" Nikki hesitated, trying to find the words, "I'm pregnant, with your baby"

Tom just stood there.

"Say something Tom" Nikki said as her and hands were shaking with anxiousness.

Tom couldn't say anything, he didn't know what to feel or think, part of him wanted to give her a huge hug but it would be a bit weird because they weren't together, another part of him just wanted to run out of the room and swipe it under the carpet. But he just stood there silent.

Michael feeling the awkwardness the most made a swift exit. Tom watched him before focusing back on Nikki. "Weren't going to tell me then?" he finally found his words, "just tell Byrne and quickly leave before anyone else had a single piece of knowledge about it?"

"Tom, he wasn't meant to find out yet, he noticed my baby bump when I bent down to pick something up, honestly I was going to tell you first, when I was certain I weren't going to lose it" Nikki's chest was getting heavier and heavier.

"But you can't be certain Nikki; you could lose it in the future, and… didn't you think of taking the pill after what happened?"

"I…" Nikki stammered "I… would have been happy if I got pregnant, I've wanted a baby for a while…"

Tom interrupted her "So you used me to get pregnant, someone else stealing my sperm, I seem to be the free sperm donor!"

"What do you mean again and I never, you don't want anything to do with this baby do you Tom?"

"Josh's mum stole my sperm to have Josh alright, and I never said that did I Nikki, you know what, I can't have this conversation with you now" he started picking up the paper, as Nikki went to help he swiped his hand to tell her not too.

As Tom left, Nikki slumped down into her chair and started to cry, the tears fell rapidly, tissue after tissue, Nikki hadn't stopped.

It was six, it was starting to get dark and Nikki hadn't moved, she didn't want to, she was afraid to see Tom again, she was afraid of tomorrow. After making herself, she slowly rose from her chair, collected her stuff and went down to her car. She carefully put her things in the boot before driving off home.

As she slipped inside, she kicked her shoes off, dropped her bag and walked into her kitchen and turned the kettle on. The click of the kettle as it finished boiling made Nikki jump, she made herself a sweet tea and sat at the table.

Tom was sitting in the pub with Grantly drinking his third lager of the night, he was focusing on the football match that was being shown, while Grantly was being socially awkward. He was trying to get his mind off Nikki and the baby but just couldn't, he really wanted to be a father again, raise a child but he didn't think he was ready, plus his outburst earlier had probably put Nikki off.

As the night drew to a close both Nikki and Tom were looking at their phones, staring at the screens, waiting for a text from each other. But they didn't know that they were both doing the same thing.


	3. Chapter 3

Neither Tom nor Nikki text each other, it was more of that feeling of waiting for a reply that put them both off. Nikki was awoken by the heavy rain on the windows, not to mention her craving for food. She went downstairs and into the kitchen and slumped into a chair.

Tom had been up for the best part of an hour, Nikki and the baby couldn't leave his mind, not to mention the stack of marking he had to finish. He knew that he'd have to speak to her, but the nerves were stopping him, he didn't mean to be rude to her but the shock of being a father again took over. For some reason, he wasn't ready.

Nikki pulled into the car park, she was going to announce to the rest of the staff that she was pregnant, no point in hiding it anymore. Tom pulled in beside her as she was carrying her things, he quickly got out. "Nikki I'll take that"

She turned around "No I can manage Tom"

"I insist" he carefully took the box off her.

"Tom, I'm pregnant, not disabled." She said with a smile.

Tom just chuckled and took it up to the PRU, "I'll see you in the staffroom"

All the staff were sitting in the staffroom, sipping coffee, telling everyone else about their nights where nothing really happened. Nikki stood up and cleared her throat "Erm, I have some news, well erm… I'm going to be a mother"

Everyone smiled and started saying congratulations. Grantly whispered to Tom "Eh £20 says it's a girl" tom just looked at him "alright you're on."

Lorraine went over to Nikki "Congrats, I'm really happy for you, so the father not about?"

"Well I don't know yet, hope he is"

"Just got to find a replacement for you yet"

"Well I'm only intending on taking a short maternity leave, so one of these lot can take over while I'm changing nappies and being puked on."

Lorraine just smiled "Commitment, what I like to see."

For the best part of the morning, Tom felt uncomfortable, even more so he might be losing out on £20 to Grantly which is always the worse feeling when it comes to bets. As he saw Nikki in the corridor, he pulled her back for a word. "Not told anyone I'm the dad then?"

"No, because I didn't know whether you want them to know."

"Well not yet, I'm still trying to get my head round it"

"I bet, not really the best piece of news to land on you"

Tom nodded "If you're not busy tonight, you want to come to mine, just so we can have a proper talk, work things out?"

"Yeah okay" she smiled

"Seven?"

"Yeah, that's great."

They both smiled before walking off to their classes. Both were thinking one thing, maybe they could learn to get along a little bit more, especially if they were having a baby.

For the best part of the day, both tried to keep the thought of the evening off their minds; however it was difficult, something in every lesson instantly reminded them of it. It's not like they didn't want to be reminded, they were just a bit nervous. Anything could happen.


End file.
